How can you attract underrepresented candidates?

How I have been able to attract more diverse talent is vocalising this more on different channels online/offline. I talk about ADHD until my face is blue but not everyone is open as myself. So how we help people communicate this, without them feeling uncomfortable, is asking if they need reasonable adjustments. People process information in different ways, this could be simply asking a interview question but typing it out to the candidate. If we are being flexible with everyone but still keeping everything the same, then we are being fair, open and honest on every occasion.

Making strides to recruit underrepresented candidates and to work towards improving diversity in your recruitment funnel is only effective if there is an inclusive culture within the organization you are attracting those candidates to. There needs to be a solid commitment from organizational leaders to invest in the training, development, and growth of leaders and employees in creating an inclusive work environment. Once that is solidified, identify areas of concern and benchmarks to hit. Research industry averages for your industry, as well as functional averages (i.e. the gender diversity in an HR department does not equal the gender diversity in an Industrial Engineering team) and set your bar to make improvements.

There is zero benefit in recruiting underrepresented candidates into a toxic workplace culture. Focus on the I of inclusion before the D of diversity, ensuring a healthy dose of E for equity is present too. Start by evaluating your current workforce (perhaps through surveys if a large population, or for smaller companies, through 1-2-1 conversations) to establish how they feel. Do they feel they are included? Can they be themselves? Do they see the company as a safe space to work? From here work out your strengths and gaps and development areas. Make sure the existing workforce feel included before increasing headcount. That is the only way to set yourself up for successful recruiting

Stretch your net out wider ! The usual methods to attract diverse talents will not work if you are fishing in the same pond ! Go out of your way to search for talent where you may not have looked before. Start by advertising in diverse community channels including diverse magazines and hubs. Build Trust It important your organisation is not just talking the talk but also walking the walk and you build genuine relationships and trust within diverse communities and remember the diverse employee journey starts before they walk though the office doors. Nurture Talent You will need to be doing the ground work internally so that you grow diversity in the business and more importantly creates inclusion when they are in the role

Define your goals: Understand the benefits of diversity: Educate yourself and your team on the numerous benefits of diversity in the workplace. Research shows that diverse teams are more innovative, creative, and better equipped to solve complex problems. A diverse workforce also leads to better decision-making and increased adaptability, allowing organizations to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Assess your current diversity landscape: Conduct a thorough assessment of your organization's current diversity landscape. Analyze the representation of underrepresented groups at various levels within the company. Identifying areas that lack diversity will help you target your efforts effectively.

I'd double down and go a step further. Auditing your employer brand is only a peice of the puzzle. You should focus on auditing your whole candidate experience right up to onboarding. Otherwise tokenism can creep in to those processes. Taking names off cvs to decrease bias in the selection process may seem like its a good idea, but where is the evidence to show it has any positive effect? By working across the whole journey you can significantly improve candidate experience whilst at the same time finding the blockers. This will be a significant step to making your candidate experience far more inclusive and feel less tokenistic towards making the brand shiny but with no depth.

There is a great tool called Gender Decoder and with a simple copy & paste you can have an instant analysis of any job description with all potential cases of gender bias highlighted for you to quickly clean up and improve.

Redacted CV’s are a great way to remove unconscious bias as a starter for 10. Then looking at everything from the interview process to onboarding through the eyes of the employee. I’d recommend using an external advisor to remove any internal bias and give a wider perspective.

To attract underrepresented candidates, it's crucial to ensure that your employer brand reflects a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Here's how to conduct an audit of your employer brand: Review your website and social media: Assess the language, images, and content on your company's website and social media platforms. Ensure that they represent a diverse range of employees and showcase an inclusive work environment. Highlight diversity initiatives and employee resource groups to demonstrate your commitment to fostering an inclusive culture.

To take this a stage further...your workforce ARE your brand. Be sure that your staff understand what is and is not acceptable in terms of how they communicate and behave in the workplace. This should be internally with each other, as well as engaging with external stakeholders. Diversity and inclusion is not only the work of the already marginalised, but the work of everyone across an organisation. Help your teams understand how to be allies and promote a healthy workplace.

You can also improve your targeted sourcing using boolean strings or filters on LinkedIn - specifically target sororities, HBCUs as places where degrees were earned, African-American fraternities and sororities, etc from an educational standpoint. There are dozens of great communities that either target specific groups or offer intersectionality for connecting with candidates. Additionally, most of these communities also offer opportunities for your employees to connect with others to be mentors, to share their stories, and to be a resource to those wanting to bolster their careers - which makes a perfect opportunity to have some great ambassadors to those communities from your organization.

Expanding your sourcing channels requires a proactive and intentional approach to reach underrepresented candidates effectively. Here are some strategies to consider: Attend diversity-focused events: Participate in job fairs, conferences, and events specifically targeted at diverse communities. These gatherings provide opportunities to connect with underrepresented candidates and showcase your commitment to diversity and inclusion. Collaborate with diversity-focused organizations: Partner with diversity and inclusion organizations, such as women's associations, LGBTQ+ networks, or disability advocacy groups. Engaging with these organizations can help you tap into their networks and attract a more diverse talent pool.

Diversity & Inclusion training should be an ongoing commitment for any organization - and a great program will involve every employee and help make this a shared mission at every level of the company. Society is infinitely in flux, so training should regularly be refreshed and updated to meet growing external & internal sentiments and priorities.

As well as training the hiring team and stakeholders involved in the hiring process, I think it’s also really important to assess for bias or barriers that are built into your hiring processes. Are your teams assessing communication in terms of tone & eye contact, and in so doing penalising swathes of the neurodiverse community? Is your insistence that all interviews will take place on X day, inadvertently disqualifying parents with pick-up time commitments? Ultimately I don’t think any business is perfect, though if you’re constantly asking for feedback, and what else you can do to promote equity - you’ll be on the right track.

Training your hiring team is essential to ensuring that your organization's commitment to diversity and inclusion is consistently upheld throughout the hiring process. Here are some key aspects to consider when providing training: Unconscious bias awareness: Educate your hiring team about unconscious biases that may affect their decision-making during the recruitment process. Help them recognize these biases and understand how they can inadvertently impact candidate evaluations. Provide strategies and techniques to mitigate bias and make fair and objective assessments. Inclusive interviewing techniques: Train your team on conducting inclusive interviews. Encourage them to ask standardized and job-related questions to all candidates.

Be mindful that the 'standard' hiring practices you may have used in the past won't suit everyone's needs. Think about how you can ensure positive hiring processes for those you interview online and in-person, for whom your first language is not their first language, who have different cultural or neuro-diverse communication styles or who require adjustments in order to compete fairly.

Know and respect your audience. We don't all come from the same backgrounds, experiences, or generations. Realizing this and listening, really listening to candidates sharing their experiences is vital. Their path may be quite different than yours - and that's okay - in fact it's probably a big plus! We want individuals with diverse and varied backgrounds and experiences so we can relate to a wide audience, no matter what our customer base may be.

One the main reasons I became the chair of an employee resource group (ERG) at my agency was to attract and retain underrepresented individuals or groups, specifically those who look like me. Though there are countless reasons why and countless ways how that organizations can make diversity recruitment a priority, it will mean little or nothing if organizations do not invest in strategies to retain underrepresented employees once they are hired.

For candidates who become employees - have a check-in with them between day 30 and day 90. Get their feedback on the interview process and the inclusivity of the team, their manager, and if they feel the work they do and the components of DE&I shared in the recruitment process or as part of the employer brand is 'as advertised'. Then use that feedback to adjust and improve.

Providing ongoing support and feedback to underrepresented candidates is crucial for fostering a positive candidate experience and retaining diverse talent. Here are some strategies to implement: Transparent communication: Keep underrepresented candidates informed about the progress of their application at each stage of the hiring process. If there are delays or changes, communicate openly and provide an estimated timeline for the next steps. Personalized feedback: Offer candidates constructive feedback, regardless of the outcome of their application. This feedback should be specific, actionable, and focused on areas for improvement. Avoid generic responses that may not be helpful for their professional growth.

Be sure to record all interview question responses in writing, so that you can provide clear reasons why the individual was recruited or rejected. In the same way underrepresented candidates don't wish to be unfairly disadvantaged, similarly they don't want to be part of a tokenistic tick-box exercise. Capturing detailed notes will support the interviewer providing feedback as much as it will help the candidate

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion can be a minefield. Get educated! The chances of being able to 'wing it' and get it right are slim if you haven't given time and attention to your recruiting process and your company culture. There are plenty of resources and experts that can help you do better and be better, and that will prove to be a valuable investment of your time.

You attract underrepresented candidates by demonstrating that you value their contribution. When you treat them as if they are some exotic and scarce resource that you have to coax into your company, that lack of understanding is evident in your marketing, in the language you use to speak to candidates, in the questions you ask during your interview process, and in the conversations you have when evaluating those candidates. Mindsets need to change before you can see change in your process.

The most critical component to being successful as an inclusive workspace is being genuine. When organizations simply use DE&I as buzzwords and don't 'walk the walk', it is recognized immediately by new employees. In our connected age, word spreads fast.

It starts from within- grow and nurture your entry level diverse talent. Ensure the opportunities are not passing them by based on biased old school requirements and skills that are not dealbreakers. For example: If you are a company that hires a lot of Public Relations professionals and you are having issues with finding talent that are senior and diverse in this space externally. WE have to remember to cultivate talent internally from the entry point; particularly when the industry or functional areas is lacking this demo based on lack of access, etc.

Have people like us on the hiring table to give sense of belonging. People with accents doing phone screening & recruiting. Representation in executive & board committees. Your career page & company pages should have representation too. People with hijab, turban, piercing, tattoos, visible disabilities, stuttering in your videos etc. Walk the talk & hire us to give voice not just a quota/ seat. Stop asking for local knowledge if it is not required. Stop telling us to be a cultural fit we are a cultural add if you want true DEI. Have people who have seen the outside world in hiring teams. Ignorance has no place in DEI & recruiting. Include perks 👇 Make your holiday/vacation inclusive, not everyone celebrates Christmas.